Aircel-Maxis case: SC recalls order asking Marans to move Delhi HC

The court had earlier refused to entertain the plea of the former Telecom Minister and his brother and said they could approach the Delhi High Court against the 2G court order summoning them as accused.
The Supreme Court on Friday recalled its order refusing to entertain the petitions of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother to quash summons in the Aircel-Maxis case by a special court trying the 2G spectrum scandal. The Centre objected to the hearing in the morning and said another bench led by CJI H.L.Dattu is already hearing all matters related to spectrum cases. The development came a couple of hours after the bench headed by Justice V. Gopala Gowda refused to hear the Maran brothers.

Just before the bench comprising Justices Gowda and R. Banumathi was about to rise for the lunch break, Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) Pinky Anand mentioned on behalf of the CBI that all matters arising out of the 2G spectrum scam probe were being heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India.

The ASG said there is a specific order of the apex court that any matter arising out of the 2G spectrum case has to be heard by it and no other court in the country shall entertain it.

Taking on record the submission of the ASG, the bench recalled its order and posted it before the bench headed by Justice Dattu on February 9, 2015.

Earlier in the day, the court refused to entertain the plea of the former Telecom Minister and his brother, saying they could approach the Delhi High Court against the trial court order summoning them as accused.

The bench said it was not inclined to interfere in the matter which has arisen out of the 2G spectrum allocation scam probe.

“You have to exhaust your remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution and then come here. We don’t see any issue of fundamental jurisdiction here. If we say anything, every person will come here saying their fundamental right is violated.

“We cannot interfere as the charge sheet has already been filed. If there is no case against you (Marans), then you can ask for a discharge,” the bench said after which Marans withdrew their petition.

During the hearing, senior advocate C.A. Sundaram, appearing for Dayanidhi Maran, said that this case is not related to 2G spectrum allocation scam probe and that not a single licence was allotted by him during his tenure as telecom minister.

On October 29 last year, a special 2G court had summoned Maran brothers and six others, including Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan as accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

The Special CBI court had directed them to appear before it on March 2, 2015 after taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed against eight accused including four companies — Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Maxis Communication Berhad, Astro All Asia Network PLC and South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd.

The CBI had said in court that Dayanidhi Maran had “pressured” and “forced” Chennai-based telecom promoter C. Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two subsidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006.